What Happens When Your Internet Drops During a Sale

AskBiz POS is a Progressive Web App that caches your product catalogue locally. During a brief outage you can:

• Browse and search your product catalogue
• Add items to the cart and adjust quantities
• Complete a sale and accept cash payments
• Generate a local receipt on screen

Transactions are saved in a local queue and sync automatically when connectivity returns. You will see an Offline banner at the top of the screen so you always know the current status.

Some features need a live connection and will not work offline:

• Card payments — the card processor requires connectivity (this is a card network limitation, not AskBiz)
• Camera scanning for new products — the image recognition API runs server-side
• WhatsApp receipt delivery — requires an API call
• Staff login via magic link — needs to verify the token with the server
• Real-time inventory level checks — stock levels sync on reconnection

If you are in the middle of a card transaction when connectivity drops, the payment will fail. Ask the customer to pay cash or wait for reconnection.

When internet returns, the sync queue processes automatically — usually within a few seconds. You will see a confirmation banner. Dashboard data and inventory levels update once sync completes.

Best practices to prevent issues:

• Keep a mobile hotspot as a backup (a £10/month 4G SIM is sufficient)
• Position your POS device within strong Wi-Fi range
• If you sell at markets or pop-ups, pre-load your catalogue before leaving
• Test offline mode once by enabling aeroplane mode and running a practice cash sale